in the offing

Language: en

Meaning: (literally,of a ship, landmass, etc.)Within theareaof theseaknown as theoffing; at aconsiderabledistancefromland, butvisiblefromshore, often inreferenceto anapproachingship.They could see that the ship was waitingin the offing.There were several small islandsin the offing.1851November 14,Herman Melville, chapter 3, inMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers; London:Richard Bentley,→OCLC,page15:Presently a rioting noise was heard without. Starting up, the landlord cried, "That's the Grampus's crew. I seed her reportedin the offingthis morning; a three years' voyage, and a full ship. Hurrah, boys; now we'll have the latest news from the Feegees."1900, James George Frazer,The Golden Bough, volume 3, page252:If the ship that bore the sacred flame arrived too soon, it might not put in to shore, but had to cruisein the offingtill the nine days were expired.; (figurative)Soontocome;likelytohappen; in theforeseeablefuture;projectedtooccur;on the horizon;in the wind.Synonyms:imminent;see alsoThesaurus:impending1850, Sylvester Breakmore Beckett,The Portland Reference Book and City Directory‎[1]:We have known wives to forget that they had husbands,[…]especially when they supposed that a tax bill or a notification to do military duty might bein the offing!1917May,Florence Van Leer Earle Coates, “In the Offing”, inThe Minaret:The Ship of the Springin the offingat last! / Oh, rude blew the hindering gales, / But perfumes entrancing, the danger o'erpast, / Are wafted afar, from her sails!2014August 8,Rupert Christiansen, “The truth about falsettos”, inThe Daily Telegraph(Review)‎[2]:He [countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo] also enjoys being the catalyst whereby opera fertilises other art forms: recently, he's collaborated with Japanese kabuki actors, and a project with dancers from New York City Ballet isin the offing.2019November 3, Andrew Anthony, “David Mitchell: ‘I have no reason to have these apocalyptic musings’”, inThe Observer‎[3],→ISSN:He has a happy home life, two sitcoms on the go and a new bookin the offing. So why is the comedian, actor and Observer columnist still so crotchety?2025June 21,Janan Ganesh, “How Los Angeles made the modern world”, inFT Weekend, Life & Arts, page22:The serious end of tech has never made the dash from northern to southern California that is foreverin the offing.; (idiomatic)At a distance, butvisible.1919,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Leave it to Jeeves”, inMy Man Jeeves‎[4], London: George Newnes:The moment I saw the man standing there, registering respectful attention, a weight seemed to roll off my mind. I felt like a lost child who spots his fatherin the offing. There was something about him that gave me confidence.

Examples:

EN: HARRIET: Any romance in the offing?
ES: - ¿Algún romance a la vista?
EN: There's a wedding in the offing, and I want to know her name.
ES: Hay una boda a la vista y quiero saber el nombre de ella.
EN: Did the wanderlust get you? Schooner in the offing and all that sort of bunk.
ES: ¿Mientras te dedicabas a ver mundo?
EN: - Right, Mr. Findlay. What do you think Steve'll do when he learns there's a Tony Gateson scoop in the offing?
ES: ¿Y qué hará Steve cuando se entere sobre Tony Gateson?
EN: A lady in the offing?
ES: - ¿Alguna mujer a la vista?
EN: - And a partnership in the offing.
ES: - Y una sociedad en el futuro.
EN: And I am extremely proud to announce .. A real battle is in the offing.
ES: Y estoy extremadamente orgulloso de anunciar... que será toda una gran batalla.
EN: Now you've got almost $700, with 1,850 in the offing.
ES: Ahora tienes casi 700. Y te esperan 850 más.
EN: There's a title in the offing... a great marriage, the founding of a princely house.
ES: Hay un título en perspectiva... un matrimonio, la creación de un linaje principesco.
EN: And tonight is a big one indeed, with a title bout in the offing for the winner.
ES: Y el de esta noche lo es sin duda, ya que el ganador se llevará el título.
EN: No small revolution in the offing?
ES: ¿No hay revoluciones en marcha?
EN: Something's in the offing again.
ES: Estaria pasando algo.
EN: Big things are in the offing.
ES: De nuevo se esperan grandes cambios.
EN: You get carried away, my dear. How do you know there's unrest in the offing?
ES: Estás exagerando, estimado. ¿De dónde sabes que habrán disturbios?
ES: Estás exagerando, estimado. ¿De dónde sabes que habrán disturbios?
EN: Like I said, the ides of March. It's just in the offing.
ES: Como dije, los idus de marzo.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).

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